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Bill would make tampering with gas or oil valves a felony

By Marianne Goodland

The Colorado Independent

Posted:
02/17/2017 07:57:15 PM MST

Next week, the environmental group Climate Direct Action is prompting its supporters to hold "house parties" around the nation to hear from "valve turners," what the group calls the next wave of action against oil and gas pipelines.

The house parties are intended to raise money for the legal defense of five individuals, who aren't identified, who shut off the emergency valves for "major tar sands pipelines" in the U.S. last October and shut down 15 percent of the oil used in a day.

While Colorado pipelines haven't yet been the target of these actions, Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg of Sterling isn't waiting. Thursday, the Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources and Energy Committee, which Sonnenberg chairs, spent several hours reviewing a bill that would make tampering with an oil and gas valve a class 6 felony. The bill passed the Republican-majority committee on a 6-5 party-line vote.

Current law makes tampering with an oil or gas valve a misdemeanor. The perpetrators can be charged with trespassing or another minor offense. Sonnenberg intends to ramp up the charge to one that carries up to a $100,000 fine and/or up to 18 months in jail.

"When you put someone's life in jeopardy," Sonnenberg said Thursday, there should be a much harsher penalty. "There is no right to damage someone else's property...There is certainly no right to use vandalism and those activities to put communities in danger because you change the pressure on a pipeline," Sonnenberg said. "I am supportive of the First Amendment. Chain yourself to the fence, I don't care, but I'm not putting people in jeopardy."

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The bill drew only three supporters and dozens of people who showed up to testify against it, citing concerns that the bill's language was so broad that it could be interpreted to shut down peaceful protest.

However, Sonnenberg pointed out that tampering with gas or oil valves is already a crime, and that he is simply making the punishment more harsh. "These are terrorist acts," said Republican Sen. Vicki Marble of Fort Collins, who several times lapsed into lecturing the audience.

They responded with outbursts, sometimes laughing at the testimony of industry representatives like Tracee Bentley of the Colorado Petroleum Institute. "Safety is our number one goal," Bentley told the committee. She noted increased vandalism at sites around the state, mostly related to thefts of copper wiring, but that creates danger, too, she indicated. Jim Cole, a lobbyist representing the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, testified that making tampering a felony should act as a deterrent.

Democratic Sen. Matt Jones of Louisville pointed out that there have been about 10 cases of tampering in the past three years, and just one conviction, an indication that "from a frequency basis, this hardly ever happens." Fellow Democrat Sen. Rhonda Fields of Aurora said she has heard from constituents who believe the law would interfere with their right to peacefully assemble, which is also covered under the First Amendment. "This is their constitutional right," she said. "This is an attempt by the oil and gas industry to bully [protestors] into getting caught into the criminal justice system with a felony, or being fined up to $100,000."

Randy Webb of 350 Colorado, an environmental group, was among several witnesses to claim the bill is part of an effort to criminalize peaceful protest and is being driven by the fossil fuel industry. "Stop this infringement on our rights," she said. Another witness suggested oil and gas companies should ramp up their security. Other witnesses asked why the legislature is protecting the industry and not the people who have to deal with the problems caused by next-door oil and gas drilling on a daily basis, such as odor and noise, and impacts to health. "Why carve out something for oil and gas when we're not adequately protesting these people?" Jones asked.

"I don't believe this will curtail peaceful protest and those expressing First Amendment rights," said Sonnenberg. "What I hope it will curtail is putting people in danger," particularly tampering with equipment they don't understand. He also pointed out that the tampering charge has been on the books for more than 25 years. "It's not a carve-out. It just changes the penalty," he said.

The bill moves on to the full Senate, but is not expected to clear the Democrat-majority House.

In related news:

Rep. Jon Becker of Fort Morgan was among 44 lawmakers who sent a message to Attorney General Cynthia Coffman Thursday. The message was delivered via a vote to kill a budget request made by Coffman. Becker's message, however, was a little different than some of his fellow lawmakers. Republicans voted the budget request down largely over concerns that the Department of Law, which Coffman runs, isn't appropriately managing its budget. The department's annual costs have increased by 20 percent since Coffman was elected in 2014, due in part of hiring new attorneys. As a result, space for the Department in the state's new Ralph Carr Justice Center, which was supposed to last 10 to 15 years, is now at capacity, according to several lawmakers.

About half of the House's Democrats also voted to reject the budget request; some shared concerns about the spending, but also pointed to her decision earlier this week to sue Boulder County for failing to end a moratorium on oil and gas development. Coffman cited a 2016 Colorado Supreme Court decision that said local governments did not have the authority to restrict oil and gas activity within their boundaries.

For Becker, spending wasn't the only concern. He also is still smarting over opposition by the Attorney General's office and the Department of Revenue to a conservation easement bill killed two weeks ago. He told the House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee that the two departments tacked on a $2 million cost to the bill, which is identical to one he ran a year ago that the departments claimed would cost the state only $5,000.

That same committee next week is expected to review a bill, offered by Republican Rep. Perry Buck of Greeley, to require local governments that ban fracking to pay the owners of those mineral rights for the royalties lost when those bans or moratoriums are enacted. The bill, however, is not expected to pass.

Also next week, Houser lawmakers are expected to give a warmer reception to a bill that would exempt a person from civil or criminal liability when they see a pet or child in distress in a locked vehicle and want to take action to rescue that pet or child. The bill, sponsored by Republican Rep. Lori Saine of Firestone and Democratic Rep. Joann Ginal of Fort Collins, would require that police or other first responders be contacted before breaking that car window, and that the rescuer remain on the scene until law enforcement arrives.

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